German book of First World War photographs

Information

Description

English

These photographs show an idealised view of the Front, aimed at schoolchildren and teachers. The soldiers are sitting in an orderly manner, like toy figures in a doll’s house. Even the wounded seem to be in good shape. This booklet includes ‘100 typical pictures and explanatory drawings from the wartime life’ of the army, navy and air force, ‘whereto our thoughts are directed permanently’.

The images do not, however, show the mud and deep water of the trenches, which soldiers stand in for hours and days, their feet rotten as a result. It doesn’t mention the horrible mutilations from the near constant contact with exploding ammunitions, nor the catastrophically unhygienic conditions, which led to diseases such as dysentery, typhus and cholera. It ignores the atrocious effects of nerve gas, let alone the fatal wounds sustained by enemy fire, but instead mentions the excellent suspension of the ambulance.